EHA 2016 | Current therapy for CLL and the new monoclonal antibody ofatumumab

Tadeusz Robak, MD, PhD from the Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland, discusses his involvement in the development of the fully human monoclonal antibody ofatumumab approved for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He discusses how ibrutinib together with idelalisib (an oral PI3K delta/B-cell receptor inhibitor) has been approved for the treatment in cases of relapsed/refractory CLL, particularly in patients identified by 17p deletion or TP53 mutation. Prof. Robak further outlines the results of the study of idelalisib combined with rituximab, showing the benefits of this combination for relapsed patients compared to receiving rituximab alone. He further presents updated results of the relatively new monoclonal antibody trial of ofatumumab, including the involvement of 270 patients. The results confirmed previous findings in terms of higher overall response rate and longer progression-free survival (PFS) for patients who are treated with the combined regimen versus ofatumumab alone. His findings on the study showed no difference in the overall survival (OS) of the patients, but showed that idelalisib plus ofatumumab had better results for patients with a 17p minus deletion or TP53 mutation. Finally, he suggests that the results thereby confirmed that idelalisib would be a good drug for patients with the abnormality, and ofatumumab could be used for this group of patients.
Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.